“Thank heaven, old fellow! If we can only avoid the slavers we may hold out till Mr Anderson or the captain comes to our help. But I must find Titely. Perhaps he has crawled away. There, go on eating while I search round. Go on eating and drinking; only leave enough for Tom May when he comes back, and for Titely when I have found him.”
“You have some too,” said Roberts, who was beginning to recover fast, save that his wound gave him increasing pain.
And now began a search which grew more and more hopeless as hours glided by. There was no trace of the injured sailor, and no sign of Tom May’s return; and at last, when the first signs of the coming brief tropical evening began to show themselves, and with them the desire for more water and fruit, Murray made up his mind to guide his companion to the negro’s hut, after leaving by way of refreshment all the fruit and water that was left, trusting to the fact that upon finding the refreshments Tom May might go further and trace the way they had gone by means of the blazings and other signs he had left upon the canes and trees.
It took some making up of the boy’s mind before he could decide to leave the place where they had hidden themselves for so long; but he felt himself bound to try hard to place his wounded comrade in safety, and where he could supply him amply with food and water; and at last, hesitating no longer, he induced his companion to make an effort to rise, and they started off together, after a final look round, for the idea had forced itself upon Murray that if they did not go at once they would not reach their haven of rest and refreshment before it grew dark.
As it was the task proved to be anxious enough before Murray succeeded in getting his companion within the hut, where he sank down in weariness and pain, but glad enough to drink heartily from a fresh nut cup of the sweet, rather peculiarly coloured water, after which he dropped into a complete state of insensibility, with a half-eaten banana grasped in his hand, while Murray eagerly seized his opportunity to follow his brother middy’s example, drinking with avidity, and for his part eating almost ravenously to master the weakness and hunger from which he suffered.
Satisfied with this, he set himself to watch and think about the two men who were sharing their troubles.
“Tom must have come upon poor Titely somewhere, wandering from our hiding-place,” he thought, “and taken him back after I had gone with Dick, and it is madness to go back to him. I couldn’t do it in the darkness, any more than he could track me out; and yet I don’t know—I ought to try and find him. Perhaps, poor fellow, he has found no food, and may be nearly starved. I think I could find him, even if it is dark. I ought to know the way to him after going over the ground twice. I ought to, and I will—after I’ve had about an hour’s rest. I must have that, and then I’ll start.”
The midshipman sat and thought of the scene when they crouched together, expecting moment by moment to be discovered.
The next minute his mind had wandered away to his search, the fortunate discovery of the old hut and the cultivation carried out by some slave; and then he came to the determination that he would crawl to where Dick Roberts lay sleeping so heavily that his breathing had become a deep snore.
“Poor fellow,” he sighed; “he has suffered badly enough, but I ought to try and put him in an easier position. It is his wound which makes him so uneasy.”